Activists Energize to Derail Chipman; Senate Judiciary Vote Thursday

U.S.A. –-(AmmoLand.com)- Gun rights activists across the nation are mobilizing a last-ditch effort to derail the nomination of David Chipman—the former federal agent-turned-gun control advocate and senior advisor to the gun prohibition lobby—to head the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

The Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to vote on Chipman’s nomination Thursday. Gun Owners of America (GOA) has prepared an online way to contact members of the Senate Committee and your own senators if they are not members of the committee here.

URGE YOUR SENATORS TO REJECT CHIPMAN FOR ATF

Chipman, who has been working for the Giffords, one of the nation’s most outspoken gun control lobbying organizations, has acknowledged he supports a ban on America’s most popular modern sporting rifle. Yet, under questioning by members of the Judiciary Committee, he could not easily define the so-called “assault rifle” he would ban.

Last month, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms called Chipman’s nomination “alarming” and accused President Joe Biden of picking “the one individual whose nomination was guaranteed to ignite a political firestorm.”

“At this point,” CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb observed, “it is fair to question why the president has done this. It looks like the president wants to put the gun prohibition lobby in charge of firearms regulation and enforcement.”

Recently, the Conservative Action Project (CAP) came out foursquare against Chipman’s nomination, with “Memo for the Movement” signed by nearly 100 top conservatives and gun rights advocates. In that memo, the CAP stated, “David Chipman is a gun control extremist whose views on firearms and the Second Amendment are wildly out of step with constitutional interpretation and widely held social norms. It is clear that Chipman intends to use the position as Director of the ATF to further an aggressive anti-gun agenda, rather than implement the law as written. The Senate must oppose his nomination.”

Erich Pratt at GOA writes in his message to gun owners that Chipman is “a virulent anti-gunner.”

“It is important that Senators hear a groundswell of opposition forming against this horrific candidate,” Pratt says. “With the Senate filibuster still in place, Joe Biden has ONLY one route remaining by which he can go after your guns, and that is getting a malicious gun-hater like Chipman to head the ATF.

“If the Senate were to confirm Chipman,” Pratt stresses, “that would open the door for the agency to ban AR-15’s by fiat.”

This is where, according to activists, where the proverbial rubber meets the road.

GOA has provided the online avenue to oppose Chipman’s nomination. Earlier, CCRKBA offered the Capitol switchboard telephone number (202) 224-3121 for gun owners who prefer making a personal call to the offices of their two senators.

Second Amendment advocates say the time to act is now. Tomorrow could literally be too late.

RELATED:

• Conservative Action Project Comes Out Swinging Against Chipman
• If Chipman Nomination to Head ATF Isn’t in Trouble, It Should Be

About Dave Workman

Dave Workman is a senior editor at TheGunMag.com and Liberty Park Press, author of multiple books on the Right to Keep & Bear Arms, and formerly an NRA-certified firearms instructor.